Digital Ecosystem – Agricultural Data Space

The automated support of work and business processes requires easy and fast access to relevant information. For this purpose, an “Agricultural Data Space” (ADS for short) is to be developed and used in order to enable secure, across-the-board data usage.

The aim of the “Agricultural Data Space” is to make available all the data that is necessary for making decisions in agriculture. The intention is to cover a diversity of value-adding processes and the interaction with the biosphere. As for data analysis, data privacy, and data security, the lighthouse project relies on innovative methods that use Artificial Intelligence to master the challenges of data heterogeneity, data quality, and data quantity.

For the design of the “ADS”, Fraunhofer can draw on experience from the reference architecture model of the “Industrial Data Space” and will use existing solutions for orientation or integrate such solutions. The project aims to create an information-based ecosystem for the agricultural sector, which, for example,

• offers farmers a basis for decision-making across all levels – from soil conditions to market situation
• enables machine manufacturers to implement optimal automation solutions based on the underlying data
• enables manufacturers of seed or crop protection products to flexibly support the selection and dosage of their products
• allows service providers to offer data-based services
• enables cooperatives and government agencies to make informed decisions based on data and to digitalize their processes that relate to farmers.